Bed bug infestations are increasing at an alarming rate throughout the world. However, existing chemical control methods such as fumigation and the like are not keeping pace due to the growing resistance of bed bugs to insecticides. Similarly, thermal or heat treatment is commonly used as a means to combat bed bugs, but such treatment also has its disadvantages. For instance, apart from the obvious danger of using high energy heaters in enclosed spaces, it has been observed that some bed bugs successfully flee the heat-treated area only to return later. Consequently, because of the limitations of current pesticidal and thermal treatment methods, it is difficult to completely kill or remove all bed bugs that infest a room.
The bed frame, mattress, box spring, and headboard are some of the most heavily infested areas of a typical bedroom. Since presently available control methods are unlikely to completely eliminate all living bed bugs, sedentary and sleeping persons will continue to provide blood meals to the bed bug population whereby the infestation cycle continues.
Other measures have been proposed, if not as ways of eliminating bed bugs, but as barriers between the bugs and their mammalian (human or pet) hosts.
Included among these are U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. 2005/0019364 and 2008/0305134 which respectively disclose the concepts of treating a pillow cover and a bedding cover with pesticidal substances. Since a portion of the population may be particularly sensitive to such chemicals, items so treated may not represent a viable solution to the problem of bed bug or other insect infestation of bedding.
Others, including U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,552,489 and 7,802,334, as well as U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0281614, have proposed encasements for entirely enveloping mattresses and box springs. A primary disadvantage of such encasements is that they are difficult to place around a mattress or a box spring. That is, mattresses and box springs are large, unwieldy objects that are not readily insertable into pocket-like encasements. A user must raise the entirety of the mattress or box spring from the surface on which it rests in order to properly install the encasement. This is no mean feat for persons of limited strength. Moreover, these devices are intended to prevent escape of pests from the encased mattress or box spring. None address the problem of bed bugs that may scale the sides of the encased mattress or box spring and reach the upper surface where they might bite persons or pets resting thereon. Similarly, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0154844 describes a portable, zippered bag for protecting luggage, clothing and similar travel-related items from pests such as bed bugs. The bag is described as being fabricated from smooth, non-porous, plastic material that offers little or no bug harborages. The bag is not disclosed as being useful for protecting mattresses, box springs or the like. However, even if were scaled to such size, it would be very difficult for many users to insert a mattress or box spring therein.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2011/0067182 describes a bed bug proof mattress. Even if its claims to bed bug resistance are true, an investment in a new mattress is expensive and not a viable option for persons of limited resources. Additionally, a bed is not portable. While such a bed may be useful for its intended purpose at the site at which it is located, it is of little use to travelers who cannot transport the bed with them. Further, once such a bed is covered with linens, it, like any other bed, is subject to bed bugs scaling the sidewalls of the bed and accessing humans, animals or other objects resting atop the bed.
U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. 2007/0107662; 2008/0032581 and 2010/0009587 disclose multilayer bed linens that are intended to protect persons from contact with bed bugs. These coverings include an impervious barrier layer over which lies a fibrous fabric layer that contacts the user's body. The barrier layer functions to prevent bed bugs from accessing the user while the fabric layer is provided for comfort. The difficulty with these bed coverings arises from the presence of the fabric layer covering the barrier layer. Such fabric surfaces enable bed bugs to gain traction sufficient to scale the sides of the bed that the linens are intended to protect and expose users lying on the bed to bed bug bites.
Bed wetting covers/mattress protectors are also known. These protectors are typically fabricated from flexible liquid resistant plastic materials such as vinyl or the like. However, once a conventional fabric, e.g. linen, bedding sheet is placed over such a cover there is no protection from bed bugs. That is, contact between the tucked fabric sheet and the underlying structure, e.g., a box spring, enables bed bugs to climb the sheet and access persons and animals lying atop the bed.
It is also long-known to cover furniture with clear vinyl slipcovers that visually expose the underlying furniture yet protect the furniture from perspiration and other stains. Such slipcovers are individually tailored and assembled to cover to the furniture they are intended to protect (such as chairs and sofas). Popular in the mid-twentieth century, they have since fallen into disfavor. Custom-fit clear vinyl furniture coverings are marketed by Home Design Shop, Inc. of Southampton, Pa.
It is not believed that clear vinyl furniture slipcovers were ever used to cover bedding. Possible reasons include:
1. Unlike other furniture such as chairs and sofas, bedding structures such as mattresses and box springs are essentially utilitarian, not decorative, and are not intended for public display in both their in-use (sleeping) and non-use states. They are covered by sheets blankets, and the like, which themselves provide comfort and decorative functionality. Hence, there is no point in covering bedding with protective material that reveals its visual appearance.
2. If used as bedding covering, clear vinyl would be uncomfortable against a user's skin because it would not “breathe” and wick perspiration from the skin.
Of additional significance, clear vinyl furniture slipcovers are not intended to be covered by or effectively retain additional covering material such as bedding linens or the like since such material would mask the underlying furniture and thereby defeat an essential purpose of the clear slipcovers. Further, vinyl slipcovers typically include zippers and vents that could enable bed bugs to pass from the interior to the exterior of the slipcovers.
Flexible plastic outdoor furniture and equipment (e.g., grill) covers are also known However, such covers are not designed for nor would they be suitable for covering bedding. Not surprisingly, they do not have moisture wickable material on their upper surface. Indeed, the presence of such material would defeat the dedicated purpose of the covers. That is, liquid permeable material would permit moisture to penetrate the cover and cause harm to the underlying furniture or equipment.
In addition, many outdoor covers include vents. Thus, even if one were somehow inspired to use an outdoor cover as a bed covering, and assuming such a cover could somehow sensibly accommodate a bed, the presence of a vent would enable bed bugs or similar pests to pass from the interior to the exterior of the cover and access the linens or other conventional bed coverings placed over the device. Upon accessing the conventional bed coverings the pests may climb them to reach the top surface of the bed and bite humans or animals lying on the bed.
Further, it is also known to provide, essentially, an object enclosure or “tent” affixed atop a bed covering in order to bar encroachment by bed bugs and the like. Such devices are marketed by Anteater Pest Control, Inc. of Duluth, Ga. For claustrophobic persons, or persons that require unrestricted freedom of movement while sleeping, such devices do not constitute a viable pest control option.
An advantage exists, therefore, for an non-restrictive, fitted protective bedding cover that is easily placed onto and removed from bedding such as mattresses, box springs, and the like. The cover should permit ready receipt of conventional fabric bedding sheets yet provide an impassible barrier between crawling pests such as bed bugs and humans, animals and objects resting on the bedding.